Alphabet Flashcards
A
ah
B
bay
C
say
D
Day
E
uh
F
eff
G
zheh (jAy)
H
ahsh
I
ee
J
zhee
K
kah
L
ell
M
em
N
en
O
oh
P
pay
Q
koo
R
air
S
ess
T
teh
U
ooh ((b)OO)
V
vay
W
doo-blah-vay
X
eeks/icks
Y
ee-greg
Z
zed
é
l’accent aigu
‘é’ is always pronounced like the name of the letter “a” (rhymes with say or bay) – but with a little twist.
French é is more like “ay” but if you cut off the sound halfway through, just before you get to the ‘y’.
à, è, ù
l’accent grave
‘è’ is always pronounced “eh”, as in “get” or “ebb”
ù appears in only one word: où (meaning “where or when”), and is used to differentiate between où and ou (meaning “or”)
là (there) – differentiated from la (the) à (to) – differentiated from a (has, as in il a) çà (here, as in çà et là) – differentiated from ça (this)
(u, a sound same)
ç
la cédille
It is used to indicate that the ‘c’ in question is pronounced like an ‘s’, as in français and garçon.
The cedilla appears only before the vowels ‘a,’ ‘o,’ and ‘u.’ That’s because a ‘c’ before an ‘e’ or ‘i’ is pronounced like an ‘s’ anyway, whereas before an ‘a,’ ‘o,’ or ‘u,’ without the cedilla, it makes a ‘k’ sound.
â, ê, î, ô, û
l’accent circonflexe
 is pronounced “ahh”, as in “mama”
Ê is pronounced just like e with the accent grave – like “eh” as in “get”
Ô is pronounced like “oh”, as in “boat”
i and u, the circumflex does not indicate pronunciation with one exception: jeûne, (meaning to fast, dietarily speaking), where both vowels are pronounced individually – as opposed to the similar jeune (meaning young) where the vowels combine to create the French “euh” sound.
ë, ï, ü
l’accent tréma
Instead of telling you how something is pronounced, the trema tells you that it is pronounced at all.
It’s used in French, especially in names, to tell you to pronounce both vowels (for example, like Zoë, Noël, and Taïwan). It’s also used when a word ending in -gu (like aigu!) is made feminine, to tell you that’s what’s happened and to pronounce the end of the word. So aigu becomes not aigue but aigüe. That’s because the ending -gue in French usually skips pronunciation of both vowels (think vogue or langue).
